Ronnie Bignell and his son Alex, 10, are winners of the great hydropower challenge. Picture: Darren Pepe

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OLD paint cans, buckets, and supermarket rewards cards were put to good use this weekend in the grand finale of the Great Hydropower Challenge.

Issued by the town’s museum, in association with the British Hydropower Association, the challenge was to design and build an operating water turbine capable of generating measurable power for at least 10 seconds.

After months of fine tuning, and a tense judging session led by David Williams, chief executive of the British Hydropower Association, Alexander and Ronnie Bignell from Godalming, were announced the winners.

Mr Williams praised the Bignells’ entry – a single jet Pelton turbine using recycled materials, which he said was “well designed, tested and constructed”.

They won a visit to npower’s hydroelectric facility at Dolgarog in North Wales with two nights’ accommodation.

Five other entrants were awarded certificates. Jonathan Deane, for a modern version of the paddle wheel; the Gall family, who made a Gorlov turbine; the Smith family entering as the Rural Power Company with an overshot waterwheel; Anthony Weedon, with his “environmentally friendly hydropowered thingamajig”; and the Jackson family, with a four-blade steamflow Pelton design.

While the competition celebrated the 125th anniversary of Godalming being the first town in the world to have a public electricity supply, powered by the River Wey, it was also part of the Heritage Open Days.

Organised by artist Stephen Goddard and the Godalming Trust, the weekend included open historic buildings, places of worship, guided walks, exhibitions, and morris dancing.

The museum, the Pepperpot, the Quaker Meeting House, 3 Church Street, and the Red Lion recorded over 800 visitors.